Windswept Gravelly Hills

Windswept gravelly hills are rocky highlands where thick layers of gravel replace much of the grass and stone. The biome is the rarest surface biome in the Overworld, so most players never stumble on it. This windswept gravelly hills finder makes the search easy. Enter your seed above, and the map moves to the nearest patch and marks it with a biome icon.

Where windswept gravelly hills generate

The biome forms inland on raised land with moderately high erosion. It needs low temperature and low humidity at the same time. Because that mix is so specific, it covers less than 0.1% of the map.

Patches are small, and windswept hills usually surround them. Dripstone caves often generate below. In short, you need luck or a map to find one.

Inside the biome, the terrain is steep and hilly, like normal windswept hills. However, grey gravel covers most of the surface. From a distance, this makes the hills look dull and bare. So once you know the look, you can spot a patch from a nearby peak. Even so, the map is the fastest way, because patches can be just a few chunks wide.

What you find in windswept gravelly hills

Gravel covers the slopes in deep layers, replacing stone, grass and dirt. Trees grow, but more sparsely than in normal windswept hills.

• Ores: emerald ore, although gravel often hides it.
• Underground: infested stone with silverfish.
• Animals: llamas, sheep and cold pigs, cows and chickens.
• Other: gravel disks, bushes, mushrooms, pumpkins and sugar cane.

How to locate this rare biome

Searching by hand rarely works for such a small biome. Instead, enter your seed and edition on the map. It flies to the nearest windswept gravelly hills and outlines them. The list on the left shows any other patches in range, and you can click each one.

In game, F3 reads minecraft:windswept_gravelly_hills. Grey gravel slopes on high ground are the visual hint. With cheats, teleport using /tp @s X 160 Z. Then land on solid stone, because gravel can slide under you.

Tips for gravelly hills

Gravel is the main resource here. It gives flint for arrows and flint and steel. Also, you can craft it into coarse dirt and use it for concrete powder. So the biome saves you a lot of digging elsewhere.

However, gravel falls when you mine beneath it. Dig carefully, and never tunnel straight up. Falling gravel can suffocate you.

Emeralds exist here, but they are harder to reach. Look in exposed stone instead of digging through gravel. Finally, visit for the Adventuring Time advancement, since the biome counts toward it.

Gravelly hills vs windswept hills

These two biomes share the same rough terrain and the same mob list. However, the surface is very different.

• Windswept hills: grass and bare stone, with more trees.
• Windswept gravelly hills: deep gravel layers, with fewer trees.
• Rarity: windswept hills are common, while gravelly hills are the rarest surface biome.

Both biomes have emerald ore and infested stone. Both also spawn llamas.

Because they sit next to each other, you can mine emeralds in the stony hills and collect gravel in the gravelly patch. So one trip gives you both. Also, visit both for Adventuring Time, because each counts as its own biome.

Windswept gravelly hills version history

Java 1.7.2 added it as Extreme Hills M. Java 1.13 renamed it gravelly mountains. Snapshot 21w40a gave it the current name in 1.18, and 21w44a added it to Adventuring Time. Java 1.21.5 added bushes and switched farm animals to cold variants.

Windswept Gravelly Hills FAQ